Nostr notes by David McMullin

A couple days ago, I boosted a question about PPE to avoid COVID, ...

2025-10-19T15:54:20Z

A couple days ago, I boosted a question about PPE to avoid COVID, and someone replied that we “need to stop” with all these protective measures, and the sooner we do, the “better we will be.” I obviously disagree: I don’t “need to stop” protecting myself because some stranger says so, and I would not “be better” with a debilitating illness.

I can’t find that comment and I seem to have accidentally deleted my response. But I keep thinking about it…

1/

#COVIDisNotOver

And…? What’s he like? I don’t know anything about him ...

2025-05-08T18:58:24Z

In reply to nevent1q…xvje
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And…? What’s he like? I don’t know anything about him except what I read in the NYT an hour ago, (which I take with a big grain of salt with these kinds of things).

Now I've tried playing with it once. I'll try again ...

2025-03-27T18:00:02Z

In reply to nevent1q…hk4y
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Now I've tried playing with it once. I'll try again later, and will probably have much more to say about it if I find the time. For now: This is at once (fascinatingly):

1) Not a bad thing for what it is, probably useful for most people and reflective of how they think about music; and

2) Emblematic of everything I can't stand about this widespread diminished understanding of what music is and what it can do.

I was afraid I would object so strongly to the approach they ...

2025-03-25T21:12:25Z

In reply to nevent1q…0rhh
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I was afraid I would object so strongly to the approach they describe here that I’d be boiling mad, but it’s actually pretty interesting, and it probably works; I’d be curious to try it out. It seems reasonably well thought out, but the whole thing is built up from premises and assumptions about music that I don’t share, and even actively resist. For just that reason, though, it’s clarifying as a thought experiment.

Fussing with the seams: Any place in a composition, at any level ...

2024-11-30T02:36:59Z

Fussing with the seams:

Any place in a composition, at any level of structure, where something ends and the next thing begins, if I make the slightest little adjustment to the length of the gap in between—or if there’s no gap, to how much they overlap—I’m always amazed what a dramatic effect that can have on the overall momentum, energy and shape of a piece. I keep relearning this but it surprises me a little every time.

#composing #ContemporaryMusic composers group (npub1qcn…qevp) contemporaryMusic group (npub1eus…vl8u)

I do miss New York sometimes.

2024-09-22T20:18:21Z

In reply to nevent1q…vt0z
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I do miss New York sometimes.

At that point, the window shattered, and his metal stress ball ...

2024-09-22T20:15:50Z

In reply to nevent1q…vhfq
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At that point, the window shattered, and his metal stress ball rolled, gently jingling, to a stop on the far side of my room.

And that's where you all came in, a few posts up-thread.

The guy looks up, sees me in the window laughing, and makes a ...

2024-09-22T20:13:57Z

In reply to nevent1q…hwvn
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The guy looks up, sees me in the window laughing, and makes a reasonable but incorrect deduction.

Now he starts yelling and throwing stuff. The first shot hit the wall outside, but hard enough that I knew he meant business. So I closed the window and backed away.

As I opened my 3rd-floor window and stuck my head out, I saw ...

2024-09-22T20:11:33Z

In reply to nevent1q…kurz
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As I opened my 3rd-floor window and stuck my head out, I saw something fall from somewhere above me, where an upstairs neighbor had evidently read my mind.

An egg went splat, dead center on the guy's windshield. Bulls-eye. This, I admit, struck me as pretty funny.

This will make more sense if I tell the whole story. Someone had ...

2024-09-22T20:07:30Z

In reply to nevent1q…0mdl
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This will make more sense if I tell the whole story. Someone had double parked, trapping the guy's car in a curbside parking space in front of my building. So he started honking the horn. Incessantly, and for a long time. It was around midnight.

When I couldn't take it anymore, I went to the window to see what was going on, contemplating, as I approached, what might be effective things either to yell or to throw at whoever's making all this noise.